MGLE01: GOL JUDICIAL TEAM PREPARES FOR UN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000489 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/SINGH/WERNER E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/19/2026 TAGS: PREL PGOV KCRM PTER LE SY UNAUS SUBJECT: MGLE01: GOL JUDICIAL TEAM PREPARES FOR UN DISCUSSSIONS ON INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL REF: A. BEIRUT 268 ¶B. STATE 27125 Classified By: Jeffrey Feltman, Ambassador, per 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On Sunday, 2/17, the Ambassador met with Minister of Justice Charles Rizk and Judge Shukri Sadr to discuss the modalities for an international tribunal for the Hariri assassination suspects. Rizk reported that the cabinet, in its 2/16 session, had approved a two-person team of Sadr and Judge Ralf Riachi to travel to New York for discussions with UN officials to follow up the 1/27-28 consulations of UN Office of Legal Affairs chief Nicolas Michel in Beirut (ref a). Sadr noted that he and Riachi planned to travel to New York as early as Tuesday, 2/19, and would stay several days. To the extent that their time allowed, they welcomed consulting with P-3 representatives in New York. ¶2. (C) Providing the non-paper in ref b, the Ambassador shared with Rizk and Sadr a list of questions and topics the USG strongly urged the GOL to work through before the team traveled. Going through the list, Rizk and Sadr offered the following comments, emphasizing that these were initial thoughts only: -- Cost of an international tribunal: Rizk said that the GOL knew that it must contribute in some way to cost-sharing, but neither he nor Sadr had any other substantive remarks. Sadr said that he and Riachi looked forward to learning in New York more about the experience of costs in other international tribunals. Rizk and Sadr rejected the Ambassador's suggestion that costs could be kept more manageable if significant Lebanese elements were used. "It's not safe," Rizk said (introducing a theme that came up repeatedly in the meeting). -- Legal restrictions on an international tribunal: Rizk and Sadr said that, after much study, they have reluctantly concluded that Lebanese parliamentary action will be required to establish the tribunal. Whatever the bilateral agreement with the UN, parliamentary endorsement is needed. Existing Lebanese law will not allow a prosecutor system, which, they argued, is essential. The prosecutor must be non-Lebanese. All of this and more must be folded into a bilateral agreement with the UN that will be presented to parliament. "We can't avoid this, even if we would like to," Rizk said, in reference to parliamentary action. -- Judges: Rizk and Sadr emphasized the need for the majority of judges to be non-Lebanese. They said that they were considering approaching legal professors who were Lebanese but working abroad, as well as other Lebanese emigrees. But, citing the fear to judges' extended families still in Lebanon, they did not support having all judges be Lebanese in origin. -- Lebanese criminal law: Rizk and Sadr said that any deficiencies in Lebanese criminal law, or any changes required (such as elimination of the death penalty),need to be dealt with in the GOL-UN bilateral agreement that would go to parliament for endorsement. -- Competence: According to both Rizk and Sadr, the GOL does not at this time plan to use the tribunal for other bombings and assassinations. Noting the high costs of such an option, they also expressed doubt that the Shia bloc in parliament would approve of such an expansion. By trying to link the other cases into this tribunal, the Shia support for the tribunal for the Hariri suspects could dry up. As for the Hariri assassination suspects, Lebanese courts cannot be used for appeals. The international tribunal must have an appeals chamber. -- Existing agreements: Asked about what agreements might hinder prosecution of Syrian suspects, Rizk and Sadr cited the 1950 Syrian-Lebanese treaty that prohibited extradition of military or diplomatic personnal between the two countries. Both said that this treaty was one of the justifications for the international tribunal. -- Location: Rizk and Sadr said that the GOL wanted to avoid having to initiate a bilateral agreement with a host country. They wanted to restrict the agreements they need to present to parliament to one, the UN-GOL agreement. Therefore, the GOL did not wish to pursue the UK's offer of an airbase on Cyprus, which they said would require a GOL-Cyprus agreement that Parliament would have to approve. BEIRUT 00000489 002 OF 002 Instead, the GOL wants the international tribunal to be held in a UN facility such as Vienna, New York, or Geneva. The Ambassador noted that those cities were all extremely expensive. Rizk shrugged, "what can we do?" As for prison sentences, the GOL would imprison any Lebanese sentenced but seeks a "host" for non-Lebanese suspects. It would not be viable, Rizk argued, for Lebanon to imprison Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, should he be found guilty of involvement. -- Role of the UN Security Council: Rizk and Sadr said that they expected the GOL would request help from the UNSC, but they deferred to wait until after further consultations before speculating on what specifically the GOL might request. FELTMAN